Summerlin will clean desert near schools
Dozens of volunteers are picking up illegally dumped items in undeveloped portions of southern Summerlin today as part of a valleywide community beautification effort in conjunction with Make a Difference Day. The volunteers are sweeping the desert area near Faiss Middle School and Bishop Gorman High School to remove trash while professional crews, hired by The Howard Hughes Corp., developer of Summerlin, remove larger, heavier items, including furniture and landscape debris.
This is The Howard Hughes Corp.'s fifth desert cleanup in two years and the third in this undeveloped area. More than 370 tons, or 740,000 pounds, of trash were removed during previous cleanup events .
"Illegal dumping, graffiti and other acts of vandalism diminish the overall health, safety and appeal of our desert home," said Tom Warden, senior vice president of community and government relations for The Howard Hughes Corp. "Fortunately, there is much we can do to help eradicate this problem - we can raise awareness, volunteer at community beautification events, become more involved with local government and environmental organizations and report illegal dumping. There is much to do. And we need all the help we can get."
The Howard Hughes Corp. is a pioneer at coordinating community beautification projects and spearheading environmental causes that serve to protect and preserve natural resources. The company's history of environmental preservation dates back to the 1980s - before construction began on the master-planned community of Summerlin.
"As developers of Southern Nevada's largest master-planned community, we understand and embrace our role as environmental stewards," Warden said. "From protecting Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and implementing water-smart landscape conversions to organizing desert cleanup and community beautification events in and around Summerlin, we are committed to environmental conservation and preservation. The Southern Nevada desert is our home, and its incumbent on all of us to do our part to protect it."
The Summerlin Desert Cleanup is one of more than a dozen community beautification projects planned today. For additional information on this or other events, visit www.donttrashnevada.org.
Summerlin began to take shape in 1990 and has ranked in the country's top 10 best-selling master-planned communities for nearly two decades.
There are more than three dozen floor plans in a variety of styles in the community. They are priced from the low $200,000s to more than $1 million. Custom-home sites in The Ridges are priced from the high $200,000s.
For more information, visit www.summerlin.com or www.facebook.
com/summerlinlv.
